Colorado starts preseason with 15 seniors

Spring is almost in the air, and that means the University of Colorado men`s lacrosse team is gearing up for another season.

After a successful fall semester, the team hopes to reestablish its winning ways in its first of three preseason games, beginning with the Colorado School of Mines on Saturday.

CU will begin the 2010 spring season with a new head coach after the sudden departure of six-year head coach John Galvin. New head coach Pete Stevenson, hired at the conclusion of the fall semester, brings a history of success at Orem High School (Utah) and Brigham Young to the team and will be looking to build on that success at CU.

Stevenson said he is pleased with the team`s progress thus far in practices, but knows there`s still room for improvement.

"Practices have been going well," he said. "I`m very pleased with the progress of the team. They`ve had to learn quite a bit of new material this year, but they seem to be handling it well. This season will be a fun one in that we will have stuff that needs improvement all year long."

BYU, Colorado State, Utah, Utah State and Wyoming make up the rest of their conference.

Colorado State currently leads the division with a 1-0 record, while BYU is second at 2-1. No other teams in the conference have played a regular season game yet.

Mines is part of the RMLC-Division II, along with Metro State, Montana State, Northern Colorado, Regis, Fort Lewis, Utah Valley, Western State, Westminster and Northern Arizona.

This season, the Buffs look to continue their streak of strong showings in the MCLA national tournament, which will be held in May.

Last year, CU lost in the Final Four round to eventual national champion Michigan, and in 2006, they fell to Colorado State 8-7 in the championship game. With 15 seniors on the roster, the Buffs certainly won`t be lacking in big-game experience.

Stevenson expects the Buffs` three preseason games will be great opportunities to work on team play and see how the team stacks up against local competition.

"This first game and subsequent preseason games will be only about getting better as a team," he said. "It will be interesting to see how good we really are against another team. What we need to improve on as players, coaches and staff will become apparent against Mines, UNC and Colorado College."

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